This year for Thanksgiving, we hosted both my mom and dad’s side of the family. Turkey dinner is one of my favourite meals by far, so this year I learnt how to cook one of the key components of Thanksgiving dinner, the stuffing. Everyone does stuffing differently so I will explain how my dad’s side of the family makes their stuffing, as it varies from my mom’s side.

A day prior to the dinner, I cut open the plastic bags the bread loaves come in, as the bread needs to dry out a day before (I use two loaves of white bread for my stuffing). The bread should be somewhat stale the next day, which is what you want. Next, I ripped the two loaves of white bread into small bite-size pieces and put them in a very large bowl.

A special little something my dad adds to stuffing is Italian sausage. So in a large frying pan I cooked up five mild Italian sausages and three hot Italian sausages. Once completely cooked, I drained the meat and set it aside to cool down. Using the same frying pan, I melted roughly half a cup of butter and sautéd two medium sized onions, and three stocks of celery. I added a few shakes of sage, poultry seasoning, salt and pepper to the onions and celery to enhance the overall flavour of the stuffing.

In a small bowl, I whisked three eggs and a half a cup of milk together; I also added in poultry seasoning and sage to the mixture. I poured this mixture into the bowl containing the meat, onion, celery, and bread. I used my hands to mix everything really well and added additional seasoning to achieve the perfect taste.

Before stuffing the turkey I had to to wash out the turkey carcass several times and then pat it dry. From this experience I learnt that there are two cavities in a turkey you can put the stuffing in. The biggest cavity is near the turkey’s stomach/bum area, and the smaller cavity is near the neck. The other key thing I learnt was that while you want your stuffing to have great flavour, don’t over due it on the seasoning. This is because the flavour will continue to enhance the entire time the turkey is cooking in the oven, therefore, you don’t want to use too much seasoning and end up with an overpowering flavour.

I thoroughly enjoyed learning how to make the stuffing my family and I love so much. It was nice to contribute something to the dinner, as well as help my mom out in kitchen. I am happy that the stuffing I made was such a success, but sad at the same time because there were no leftovers.